David N. Weisstub and Guillermo Diaz Pintos, Eds, Autonomy and Human Rights in Health Care. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, Vol. 36

Excerpt

This is a rich, powerful collection of essays dealing with important issues facing modern health care. In areas of public policy, we routinely speak of the importance of multiculturalism and diversity. But diversity—moral and cultural—is a real challenge in the delivery of health care. Diversity is particularly troublesome in health care for three reasons. Firstly, many health care decisions are not merely medical decisions. Health care decisions are often contextualized in a person’s cultural, religious, or ethical commitments. These decisions are fraught with moral values and commitments. So often the best thing to do is not merely a medical decision. Secondly, health care is delivered in complex delivery systems that require the cooperation of many people—professionals, patients, and family. So the context of medical delivery requires people, often with different moral views, to work together in decisions that are often fraught with moral challenges. Finally, the moral diversity in the practice of medicine provides real challenges for a global bioethics. …